Comics Alternative Interviews: Peter Bagge

Hate No More

While Derek attended this year’s Fan Expo Dallas, he had the opportunity to talk with Peter Bagge not once, but twice! On the Saturday of the con Peter was kind enough to sit down for a lengthy interview — about 30 minutes — in-between fans, commissions, and signings. Although their back-and-forth was substantial, there were subject matters that they didn’t get to cover on that first day. So they decided to follow up with another interview on Sunday. What you’ll hear in this podcast episode is an edited result of two-days-worth of recorded conversation at Fan Expo Dallas. Among other topics, Derek asks Peter about the response to 2013’s Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story, and that leads to a discussion of the creator’s next project, a graphic biography of Zora Heale Hurston. Peter shares his experiences researching for the book, the politics underlying Hurston’s previous biographers, and the challenges of putting the writer’s life — the palatable as well as the problematic — into comics form. They also discuss Peter’s recent work on IDW’s Garbage Pail Kids Puketacular and the connections between card collecting, comics, and pornography. In addition, Derek talks with Peter about the release of Sweatshop, a series that was originally published by DC Comics in 2003, and then just recently collected in trade through Fantagraphics. It’s the story of a newspaper cartoonist and his disgruntled assistants, and Peter explains that this is a title that he will probably never revisit, especially due to the fact that strip cartooning (at least in newspapers) is, unfortunately, a dying form. And the jury’s order cheap levitra still out on whether or not Peter will return to one of his most iconic creations, Buddy Bradley. Derek is a huge fan of Hateand the Hate Annual, and hespecifically asks Bagge if there’s any future for Buddy and Lisa. Although that fact remains uncertain — as is a return of Guy Krause from 2012’s Reset — what is more assured is a collection of Peter’s Founding Father Funnies that will be coming out through Dark Horse Comics in the near future. Peter even shares with Derek news that his Neat Stuff comics will be collected in nice archival editions through Fantagraphics. However, the conversation isn’t only about the comics. They spend a lot of time talking about Peter’s love of pop music — like Derek, he is a big Beach Boys and (especially) Brian Wilson buff — and especially his work as a musician in The Action Suits, and more recently the band Can You Imagine? In fact, you can hear clips from the band’s 2012 CD, Romance!, in this episode. Derek has previously interviewed Peter twice before — first, at the 2013 HeroesCon and then for the blog around the release of Woman Rebel — but this time around, they cover entirely new territory. There’s a lot packed into this conversation, so give it a listen. And a great big thanks to Peter Bagge for taking the time and being on the podcast!